Speculative Fiction Author

Freakend Madness & Pirates, Oh My!

I happened to Google the book Freakend Madness, and received a big surprise. Apparently the book has been pirated and shared all over the place, particularly in China. The interesting thing is that there is currently no eBook version. Someone scanned the book and posted it somewhere — possibly in the eBook pirating lair in Tortuga — whereupon all the other pirates shared copies.

Normally I would just go “meh” and figure it’s a price authors pay. The thing that sucks is Freakend Madness is a charity anthology. Every time someone pirates and reads a copy, that’s money that doesn’t go to Asbury House in Fort Collins, a home for women who are survivors of domestic violence.

The question I have is what should I do? I can play whack-a-pirate-mole with DMCA take down notices. Nah, not worth the effort, particularly the Chinese pirates. I think we’ll work on adding a page at the very beginning noting that it’s a charity anthology, and if someone pirates the book they should chip in a buck to Asbury House. Most won’t, but for every one that does, it’s a buck that will go to help someone in need.